Runic CEO Max Schaefer reckons that Torchlight 2 has a few key features that'll help it stand against Blizzard's monolithic, mega-budget sequel, Diablo 3. He tells Joystiq that Torchlight 2's offline mode, mod support, LAN support and lower price point are all factors that could tempt action RPG fans over to their side, but the timing of Torchlight 2's release is important.

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed Diablo has announced a date. So, we don't want to fall right on that," Schaefer told Joystiq. "The real answer is when [Torchlight 2] is finished, is Diablo 3 right now? Then we'll wait."

In fact, Schaefer reckons that the ideal time to drop would be one month after Diablo 3, but if the game isn't ready, Runic won't be rushing it out of the door to meet that target.

"Be patient. Our total development time on this game is going to be about two years, which is not unreasonably long for this type of game," he said. "We're going as fast as we can. It'll be worth the wait, it'll totally be worth the wait. In the long run, people will be happy we took this extra time."

Runic have recently shown a few of Torchlight 2's new pets , which is a telling reveal given Blizzard's announcement in January that Diablo 3 won't launch with the planned companion pets . The Diablo 3 release date has been set for May 15, which puts Torchlight 2's perfect release date in June. It's best not to hold Runic too closely to that, though. The Torchlight 2 release date is yet to be decided. Which one would you buy?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom stopped being a productive human being when he realised that the beige box under his desk could play Alpha Centauri. After Deus Ex and Diablo 2 he realised he was cursed to play amazing PC games forever. He started writing about them for PC Gamer about six years ago, and is now UK web ed.